1. Field
One embodiment of the invention relates to an electronic apparatus which executes close proximity wireless transfer, and a communication control method which is applied to the electronic apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, in IC cards, mobile phones, etc., wireless communication such as Near Field Communication (NFC) has begun to be used. A user can easily execute communication for an authentication process, an accounting process, etc., simply by performing an operation of holding the IC card or mobile phone over a reader/writer module of a host apparatus.
Recently, a new close proximity wireless transfer technique, which enables communication at higher speed, has begun to be developed. The new close proximity wireless transfer technique makes it possible to exchange data files such as document data, image data, and audio data between devices as well as authentication and charging services, simply by bringing the devices close to each other.
Japanese Patent No. 2505063 discloses a system which establishes a virtual chain within a distributed computer network. In this system, when communication is executed between two servers, a virtual chain is established by using control block resources of respective intermediate nodes between these servers. By the establishment of the virtual chain, the amount of information, which is needed in each intermediate node, can be reduced.
However, the system of Japanese Patent No. 2505063 relates to a distributed computer network, and no consideration is given to close proximity wireless transfer, by which data transfer is executed between two devices which are set in a close proximity state.
In a close proximity wireless transfer system, communication between two devices which are set in a close proximity state is executed in a peer-to peer mode. A session is established between an application (communication program) of one device and an application (communication program) of the other device, and communication between the applications is executed through the session.
However, in usual cases, in the close proximity communication system, the number of sessions which can be used at the same time is limited to one. Thus, in order to execute, while an application (A) is executing communication, communication by using another application (B), it is necessary to temporarily release the session which is currently in communication. In this case, the user is required to perform, for example, an operation of temporarily finishing the application (A). In addition, in the case of resuming communication with use of the application (A), it is necessary to establish the session once again, which is used by the application (A). In this case, the user is required to perform, for example, an operation of finishing the application (B) and starting the application (A).
Thus, in the close proximity wireless communication system, many user operations are needed to switch the application which is used for communication.
It is necessary, therefore, to realize a novel technique for easily switching an application which executes communication with an external device by using close proximity wireless transfer.